Recommended Websites:
The Story of Ornaments & How They Are Made!
Why do we hang ornaments from Christmas trees? What is the significance?
How are ornaments made? Today’s websites answer these questions and more…
A Social History of Christmas Ornaments
At this website you can read an interesting account of the history of
Christmas trees and the ornaments used to decorate them. The story comes in
three parts; Origins of the Christmas Tree, The Earliest Ornaments (1800’s),
and The Rise of All American Ornaments (1900’s). The text is accompanied by
pictures and illustrations. Students ages 10 and up may enjoy reading this
on their own. Parents may want to read and paraphrase it for younger
children.
WATCH A VIDEO of How Glass Ornaments Are Made!
This website offers a video of how glass ornaments are made in Poland. When
you get to this commercial website that sells ornaments look at the menu on
the left side of your screen. Scroll down the menu until you come to video
icon with the words written below it, “Click to enlarge glass ornament
making movie.” Click on those words and a larger video screen will appear
and the movie will begin (turn on your speakers). The movie isn’t narrated
but the sound gives you a better sense of what is taking place as the
hand-made glass balls are blown, dipped, hand-painted, finished and
packaged. Aspects of this film are grainy, nevertheless the painstaking
process is well-conveyed. The movie is suitable for all ages — although you
may have to narrate what is happening to help young children understand.
How We Came To Celebrate Christmas As A National Holiday
The Hoover Presidential Library Museum tells the story of how Christmas
became a national holiday in America through a fascinating online exhibit
that features Christmas tree decorations and what they symbolize culturally
throughout various eras of U.S. history. As the virtual exhibit explains…
“Christmas wasn’t always celebrated the way it is today. In fact, the
Puritans of Massachusetts banned any observance of Christmas, and anyone
caught observing the holiday had to pay a fine. Connecticut had a law
forbidding the celebration of Christmas and the baking of mincemeat pies! A
few of the earliest settlers did celebrate Christmas, but it was far from a
common holiday in the colonial era.
It is hard to pinpoint the first decorated Christmas trees in America. Some
say the tradition began with the Moravians of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania who
decorated trees in the very early 1800s. Others say the first American
Christmas tree was set up by Hessian soldiers at Trenton, New Jersey, in
1776. We do know that by the early 1800s there were numerous decorated trees
throughout our country, but the term “Christmas tree” was not in common use
until 1830.
The Christmas tree tradition was spread across America by German immigrants
beginning in the early 1800s. The Germans baked fancy ornaments for their
trees and then ate the ornaments when the trees came down. After Christmas,
these frugal people would strip the needles and wrap the branches in cotton
to extend the tree’s life for several Christmases to come.” To learn more,
visit the website. :)
Best of the holiday season to you and yours! Merry Christmas and Happy New
Year!
